The use of sealed glass ampoules containing any number of volatile fluids is well known in the liquid applicator field. Typically, the applicator comprises a deformable/pliable plastic tube, an application tip, a filled ampoule (that is, a hermetically sealed crushable glass ampoule filled with the fluid to be dispensed from the applicator and applied by the applicator to a surface), and optionally a closure cap mountable onto the applicator for covering the application tip when the applicator is not in use. Such an applicator is sealed together such that after the fluid contained within the ampoule is released from the ampoule by the user of the applicator squeezing the tube inwardly using his forefinger and thumb to crush the glass ampoule contained therein, the fluid may be directed to the porous application tip. Depending on the physical attributes of the tube, occasionally a glass shard from the crushed ampoule may penetrate through the tube, causing injury to the user of the applicator by cutting into the user's finger and/or thumb, when the user subsequently squeezes the tube inwardly, after the fluid contained in the ampoule is released from the ampoule due to the ampoule being crushed, to cause the fluid released from the ampoule to flow to the applicator tip and be metered out from the applicator tip onto a surface.
In an attempt to prevent such an injury, wing-like pairs of gripping members and an extended breaking lever, which are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,729,786, 6,536,975, and a U.S. patent application published under Publication No. US2006/0072959 A1, have been used to break the sealed ampoule. However, such devices have shortcomings, such as being cumbersome to use and non-ergonomic, in part due to such devices requiring that the tubes be constructed using rigid resins to permit the use of wing-like pairs of gripping members or the use of an extended breaking lever to effectively crush the ampoule, such rigid resin construction of the tubes making it difficult if not impossible to effectively control and vary the amount of fluid metered out from the applicator onto a surface by squeezing the tubes. Further, such devices are limited to the size and shape of the specific ampoule to be used that must match the internal confines of the device. To accommodate larger or smaller fills (that is, larger ampoules having larger amounts of fluid or smaller ampoules having smaller amounts of fluids), for example, a whole new device must be made, increasing the costs of tooling in an injected molded applicator shell. Another shortcoming of such devices is that they do not effectively provide for multiple applications of volatile fluids over time. That is, such devices do not effectively provide for multiple applications of volatile fluids over an extended period of time, such as a week or more, by failing to prevent drying out of the applicator tips and/or by failing to prevent the fluid from undertaking an unintended chemical reaction due to atmospheric exposure of the fluid on their daubers.